Not Strong Enough
by anniegirl132
Summary: Gray is tired of being weak, and tired of having the people he cares about get hurt for him. So he finally does something about it.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! So this story is based sometime before the Tartarus arc but after the Grand Magic Games arc. Hope you like it! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters**

 **.. . .. . .. . ..**

Gray swore under his breath, blinking droplets of blood out of his eyes and glaring across the clearing at his enemy. It was a large man, at least twice Gray's size, and he had a pretty unique magic that appeared to give him the ability to teleport short distances. Not to mention the man was quite skilled with the two large swords he held in either hand. It was becoming quite annoying.

"Ice make... lance!" The lances shot out at the man but he disappeared from sight, reappearing behind Gray and slashing the ice mage's back with both his swords. Gray couldn't hold back the cry of pain. This guy was definitely harder to beat than he had thought. But he had to do this, the rest of the team was counting on him to win this fight.

Gray gathered magic in his hands and formed his ice Excalibur before charging at the large man. Their sword met and Gray could feel the man's strength about to overpower him right before he was sent flying through the stone wall behind him.

His whole body ached and he could feel blood pooling under him. His gazed was unfocused as he tried to push himself back to his feet. The man slunk toward him, a malicious sneer twisting his face.

Then a ball of fire collided with the man's side and sent him tumbling. Seconds later Natsu's face appeared in his vision.

"Gray, are you okay?" he asked, a layer of concern covering the anger burning in his eyes.

"I'm fine flamebrain, I was just about to take care of this bastard when you showed up," Gray growled. No way he was going to let Natsu show him up. Gray staggered to his feet, ignoring Natsu's hand held out to help. Natsu shot him an unreadable look as they stood side by side, ready to face the guy.

"You're gonna regret that," he spat, wiping a trail of blood off his chin.

"Heh, you're the one who'll be sorry," Natsu smirked, slamming his flame-covered fists together. Though he could feel his strength fading, Gray also gathered magic in his hands, ready to attack. The man charged and Gray barely had time to move out of the way before the man went barreling past the two mages.

He felt pain shoot through his body at the sudden movement and a short gasp escaped his mouth. He could feel Natsu's eyes on him.

"I'm fine," he growled out, sending the fire mage a quick glare, only to see Natsu running at him.

"Wha-" he flew back a few feet at the impact.

"What the hell are... you..." he stared wide eyed at Natsu, who had been impaled through the stomach by one of their enemy's large swords. The fire mage's fists lit up and, with the close distance the man had no time to dodge the attack. He went down in seconds. Natsu also went down, collapsing to his knees.

"Natsu!" Gray staggered over to his friend.

"This is nothing," Natsu smirked weakly grabbing the hilt of the blade tightly in both hands. Natsu screamed, pulling the blade out of his abdomen, blood flowing out everywhere.

"You idiot, you just made it worse!" Gray snapped, quickly beginning to apply pressure to the dragonslayer's back to stop the bleeding.

"I'm not... going to walk... around with a sword in me," Natsu panted, pressing his own hands to the front of his wound.

"Shit... we have to find Wendy," Gray frowned.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

"Of course I can. What about you Ice Princess," Natsu smirked. Gray scowled, struggling to his feet, then helping up. The fire mage could stand seemingly just fine, but to Gray's it felt like the whole room was tilting. Then before he knew it everything went dark

.

. .

. . .

. . . .

Gray slowly blinked open his eyes to see a bright white light shining into his eyes. He turned his head away from it to see the white walls of the room he was in. By the smell of chemicals, he assumed that he must be in a hospital.

"Finally awake Ice Princes," he turned his head to the sound of the voice to see Natsu smirking down at him.

"How... long?" he managed to rasp out. His throat felt so dry.

"Only a day. The doctors said you lost a lot of blood."

"Oh... what about you?" he asked, managing to push himself into a sitting position.

"I just had to let those bastard stitch me up," he said with a cringe. Gray knew that Natsu wasn't a big fan of needles.

"Well, I'll go tell everyone else you're awake," Natsu said before running out the room. Gray sighed, fisting the bed sheets at his side. He was weak again. He was always _so damn weak_. He hated it so much, the way he always needed someone else to protect him. And because of that Natsu got hurt; he could have even died...

At that moment the whole team came into the room and he had to force a smile. He talked with them though he wasn't listening to the conversation much as he really wasn't in the mood to talk.

"They said that you could go once you woke up. Do you feel okay?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah... I'm fine," he pushed himself off the bed and managed to stand without swaying. He wasn't really in pain, though he was a bit dizzy. The doctors must have given him some kind of pain killer.

"You shouldn't do any missions for a while," Erza advised, scanning him with concerned eyes.

"Yeah, I know," he sighed. Her eyes lingered on him for a bit longer before they all left the room and then the hospital. Thankfully on the train ride back to the guild no one tried to talk to him, which gave him the silence he wanted. He even managed to push the thoughts of all that had happened from his mind, at least until they got back to Magnolia.

Gray got off the train with everyone else and they all parted ways. Once they were out of sight Gray got back on the train, which was heading to Mount Hakobe. He needed somewhere to sort out his thoughts, and he always found it easier when he was somewhere cold. Thankfully Mount Hakobe was only a thirty minute train ride away. Once he arrived it was pretty easy to make it to the small cave at the top of the mountain where he sat and thought.

He really was weak, and felt like he usually ended up bringing the team down. They were all getting stronger seemingly each day and he hadn't changed much. It was his fault that Natsu had gotten hurt and could have died. It was because he was too weak to defend himself.

It felt like some kind of sick pattern to him, because it was the same reason he'd lost everyone else important to him. His parents, Ur, Ultear... all of them had died because he was too weak to defend himself. Gray slammed his fist into the ground. He _hated_ to be so weak, hated it more than anything else in the world.

He couldn't stay, not with Fairy Tail. Not when his presence only got people hurt. He needed to get stronger. Maybe then he would allow himself to come back. But for now he had to go, before someone else got hurt because of him.


	2. Chapter 2

**So it's a bit late but here's the second chapter! I want to thank you guys so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites; they really help motivate me to write. So, I hope you like it! :)**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters**

* * *

Natsu entered the guild around late morning as he did every day, but something felt off. In fact, something had felt off for about a week now, though he couldn't figure out what. He sat down at a table next to Lucy, frowning in thought.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first glance, or even second. The guild looked just like it always did, though it was a little bit quieter. Was that it? No, not quite. Maybe it was because Happy was on a mission with Wendy and Carla. No, not that either. Something had felt off for a week and Happy had left just yesterday.

"Is something wrong Natsu?" Lucy asked, looking over at him.

"No... Something just feels off," he muttered, staring down at the table. His face scrunched up in concentration, and then a thought finally came to him. It had been a while since he'd last seen a certain ice mage.

"Have you seen Gray recently?" he turned his head to face Lucy.

"No... I think it's been a week now," she frowned, a concerned look in her eyes.

"Maybe we should go check on him..." she suggested.

"Ah, I'm sure he's fine," Natsu said, though it was strange for Gray to be away from the guild for so long.

"Natsu!" Lucy snapped.

"What!?"

"What if something's wrong?" She glared at him.

"Fine... let's go check on him," Natsu sighed. It's not like he was worried too, no, he just didn't want Lucy angry with him. They both got up and walked toward the guild's exit.

"Where are you two going?" Erza stopped them.

"We're going to check on Gray; it's been a while since we've seen him," Lucy explained.

"I will come too, I have been wondering where he was," Erza announced. So they all left the guild and made their way toward the outskirts of Magnolia where Gray's apartment was. They entered the building and the old lady at the front desk greeted them with a smile.

"What do you need sweeties?" she asked.

"We're here to see Gray Fullbuster," Erza told her.

"Oh... he left about a week ago dear, I haven't seen him since," she frowned at the group.

"What?" Lucy's eyes widened.

"Did he say anything about where he was going?" Erza asked.

"Not much, just that he needed to leave," she gave them a sympathetic look. Natsu swore quietly, glaring holes in the wall. How _dare_ Gray go on some probably fun adventure without telling him.

"Oh no... How are we going to find him? He could be anywhere at this point," Lucy frowned. Natsu was confused though. Why did Lucy look so sad, it wasn't like Gray was gone forever, he was just on some trip. But if it would make Lucy happy, Natsu guessed that he would go find the ice mage.

"Don't worry Lucy, I'll go find him," Natsu grinned.

"Let me come too!" she said, eyes shining in determination.

"Right," Natsu nodded.

"I'll stay at the guild in case he comes back," Erza assured them with a smile.

"Alright, let's go!" Natsu cheered.

.

..

...

Gray sighed, looking blankly out of the window of the train he was on, his face pressed against the cool glass. A soft sigh escaped his lips, causing the glass to momentarily fog over. He still couldn't believe that he'd actually left. And now he was almost to his destination.

He had decided that the best place at least to start his training would be one of the northern continents. Though it did remind him a bit too much about what had happened with Deliora, he knew that he needed to do this to become stronger. For his nakama.

He missed them, a lot actually. And he almost regretted not telling them he was leaving. But if he had then they would probably try to come after him, and there's no way he could get stronger if they did that. _That's right, I need to focus on getting stronger_ , he thought.

He figured the best way to start would be to work on the basic, such as physical endurance and strength and increasing his magic capacity. That would make it a lot easier for him to continue increasing his power. Maybe he could start out with some simple mountain climbing... By the look of the sky it seemed a blizzard would be coming in soon which made it perfect. He smirked as the train pulled to a stop.

He got up, grabbed his one small bag and exited the train. He definitely did miss his nakama, but this... journey, would be good for him. After this, he wouldn't be bringing the team down anymore. He could finally be useful.

The ice mage left the train station and strolled through town. All of the villagers were rushing around and securing things down in preparation for the coming storm. One of the villagers stopped long enough to advise him to find shelter soon.

"This storm is going to be a big one," the man said gravely.

"It's fine, I'm used to this kind of weather," Gray answered.

"Oh! I haven't seen you before, you live anywhere near here?"

"Nah, I'm just a traveler," Gray shrugged.

"Oh, okay. Well I'd best get back to securing up my shop. Be careful," the man smiled before walking off. Gray nodded and continued on his way down the busy street. He was looking forward to the blizzard. Not only would it make his training harder, but something about the torrential winds, blinding snow, and freezing cold temperatures made him happy.

After a while, he exited the town into a heavily wooded forest and in the distance, he could see a large mountain range. He picked up his pace to a jog, deciding he wanted to reach the mountains before the storm so he could make the most of his training.

Absentmindedly he removed his shirt, and the biting cold was a welcoming sensation against his skin. Magnolia had always been a warm town, sometimes it was a little nice to go somewhere with a more comfortable temperature. Even if he was alone. He shook his head and scowled. He was _not_ going to start feeling lonely. After all, it had only been a week, and he needed to follow through with this, no matter what.


End file.
